You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS
Here is the newest Think Tank for your reading pleasure:
Decision coming as early as Saturday
Bob McKenzie dropped some important information regarding the Senators head coach search yesterday:
Considering all of these coaches will come cheap, I can’t imagine negotiations on a new contract being an issue here. It looks like we might have official information about who the next coach is on Saturday, although we might have to wait until a few days after that. After wondering who it is going to be for a few months, we will finally have our answer very shortly.
Could it really be Roy?
And speaking of who the new coach will be, some seem to think that Patrick Roy might actually be the frontrunner…
At this point, I feel like it will either be Jacques Martin or Patrick Roy. Martin would probably be a fine choice but I’m not so sure he would be the long-term answer. The same can be said for Roy though, as his Avalanche teams put up horrendous shot differentials during his three seasons:
He did win a Jack Adams in his first year in Colorado, but that was thanks to an absurd .927 SV% from Semyon Varlamov and the 3rd highest team PDO in the league at 1.018. They predictably regressed the next two years with 90 and 82 points, respectively, and didn’t make the playoffs in either season. He is very old-school, and for a team that needs to get out of the Middle Ages, that is not a good fit at all. There are many supporters of him in the fanbase because of his pedigree (mainly his playing career), but I just don’t think a hot-head old-school thinker is the right answer.
Nevertheless, it’s looking more and more likely that he is going to be the next coach.
Probably not getting the extra 2nd round pick
In the Erik Karlsson trade, one of the conditional picks they received was a 2nd round pick in 2021 that could upgrade to a 1st round pick in 2021 if the Sharks made the Stanley Cup Finals this year. After being eliminated, it will be impossible for Ottawa to get that second 1st rounder. However, they can still get that 2nd rounder (along with the 2019 2nd rounder and 2020 1st rounder) if Karlsson re-signs in San Jose. If he signs elsewhere, then Ottawa gets nothing (besides the two picks they were guaranteed).
If that sounds confusing, I know, it can be. All you need to know is that you should be rooting for Karlsson to re-sign in San Jose because then the Senators will be getting an extra 2nd rounder in that case. The only thing is that I get the sense he isn’t going to be staying. The Sharks will have a hard time keeping him due to their own cap crunch, plus the talk around the league makes it seem like Karlsson wants to head back to the east coast. He loves Tampa Bay, and I can definitely see that happening:
The Lightning would have to get creative with the cap, but if any team can get something like that done, it’s Tampa Bay. The Rangers are definitely an option as it looks like they will be heavy spenders this summer. No matter what, I don’t get a good sense that Karlsson will be staying in San Jose. He has been playing through a lot of injuries this season, and I don’t even know if the Sharks
want to sign him to a maximum 8-year contract. Who knows where he will end up, but I wouldn’t count on Ottawa getting that 2nd round pick.
Who are you cheering for?
I don’t think many people predicted this final at the beginning of the season: St. Louis vs. Boston. I was very high on St. Louis coming into the season and had them as my Central Division winners, but even I didn’t think they would make it all the way to the finals. I would’ve loved to see Erik Karlsson and Joe Thornton win a cup in San Jose, and I really feel for Sharks fans who have been waiting years for them to win it all. I definitely don’t want the Bruins to win, although there might be a few Senators fans who would rather not see a new fanbase get a Cup.
It’s a weird feeling, but I get where those people are coming from. You don’t want the Senators to be the only (or one of the only) teams that don’t have a Cup, and if the Blues win, that list will get smaller by one. With a St. Louis victory, that’s essentially another fanbase that holds bragging rights over Ottawa and other teams who have never won. I’m not saying I think that way, but I know of a few people who do. I’m assuming that 90% of Senators fans will still be cheering for the Blues.
Stretched out way too long
The first round of the playoffs are always fantastic, and it’s so much fun following all eight series for a couple of weeks. But every year, by the time it reaches the finals, there is definitely a lull. The Sharks/Blues series was a good one, but the season is stretched out so far that it’s crazy that there will still be three more weeks of hockey to be played. The most frustrating part about this is that there are way too many off days. First of all, game one doesn’t start until Monday, and they decided that before the Western Conference Finals was even finished. I get that they want to make sure everyone’s accommodations are booked and everything, but there’s no need to wait almost an entire week for another game.
Then during the finals, if it goes to game seven, there will be seven games in 17 days…
Do we really need two off-days in between every time the series shifts to the other city? Sure, players are exhausted at this point in the season, but it’s not like they need two days off every time. The schedule in the finals has been like this for years now, but I really think it just sucks the air out of the room and makes it feel anti-climatic. It’s hot outside all over North America because the season ends in mid-June, and most people are thinking about things other than hockey.
I’d love to see the NHL figure out a way so that the playoffs are over either in the middle or the end of May so that fans aren’t sitting around for days on end waiting for the next big game.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»